The main character is Moonee, a wild six year old. The portrayal of childhood was the most realistic and vivid that I've ever seen, it was truly magical. Specific things like water being poured over head via a cup for baths, running up and down stairs playing hide and go seek tag in hotels, wandering around outside for hours, and the seemingly unbearable boredom of waiting for your parent to be done with something were things I don't think I've thought of since experiencing them. Of course, the whole movie is about living below the poverty line and just trying to get enough money to get by each day so there are some really, really sad and raw moments too. There were several parts of the movie that I was like "why does everyone always have that reaction to that lol" like how when the old condos were on fire and everyone ran and it was like a big event watching it and Halley wanted to take Moonee's picture with it. I also loveddd when Moonee and Scooty were giving Jancey the low down on everyone in the motel pointing at all of the people's doors while walking by. That is so true how when people live close in vicinity like that and are living their separate lives simultaneously they are still intrinsically connected because of where they live.
The movie portrays the poor and marginalized by giving you a peek at what their life and struggles look like for a typical summer. It was key that the movie didn't try and get you to feel one way about the main characters or explain how they got there, it just let them live. Oh, also I thought it was cool that Sean Baker used mostly first time actors and literally found the girl who plays Halley on IG. I hope I'm not turning into a huge worrywart because in several scenes starting with the fire scene I felt tons of impending doom and was SO worried someone was going to get hurt and stuff.
The FL Project was timely for me because earlier this week I listened to the Hidden Brain on "the scarcity trap" and how when people are in the mode of trying to figure out what they need to survive the day they are very resourceful and thrifty but that prevents them from thinking and planning long term which is why if they get money they often spend it right away without thinking of trying to stretch it out etc. Your brain can also get into that mode when you're really, really desperate for sleep or friends the podcast mentioned. I totalllly thought of this in the scene when Halley & Moonee had just gotten the man to buy the wristbands and got $400 or something and were like "we're rich" and went on a little shopping spree and got plastic jewelry and stuff.
I didn't hate the ending at all, I was sad the movie was ending just because I was kinda hooked on their life and when Sean Baker switched to filming on an iphone I was like OMG is this the end this can't be the end and tried to pause the movie to see how much time was left.
Overall, HIGHLY encourage watching it's on Amazon right now for your viewing pleasure.
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